American Go E-Journal » Europe

The European Go Federation (EGF) and the American Go Association (AGA) will co-host the 2019 Transatlantic Professional Go Team Championship this Spring, with a prize of €10,000 for the winning team. “While top European and American go players have faced off before, at the SportAccord Games and IEMG for instance,” said AGA president Andy Okun, “this establishes a more formal setting for a healthy rivalry between the growing fields of EGF and AGA certified pros.”

Each team will consist of five EGF- and AGA-certified professional players. The Championship will use a win-and-continue format: each player continues to play until defeated. The first round is scheduled for April 7 at 20:00 Central European Time (14:00 US EST). Later rounds will follow weekly at the same time (with some rescheduling possible for tournament conflicts. There will be no game on Apr. 28) All games will be broadcast live by the AGA broadcasting team on both YouTube and Twitch.

“The pubs here rotate their ale and beer and occasionally have special beers and ales brought in for a short period,” reports Jose Santiago. “The picture here is of one on offer (recently at the Milton Keynes pub where go players meet on Tuesday nights). Not quite go – but it is ‘game of stones’ Fred had a pint and then a half.” Milton Keynes is located about 45 miles north-west of London.

With an early U.S. Go Congress this year at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, there are just two days of overlap with the European Go Congress in Pisa, Italy. “For the hard-core go enthusiast, what better way to celebrate than a full three weeks of high quality go across two continents!” says USGC Co-Director Diego Pierrottet. This year, the 34th USGC is sponsored by the National Go Center July 21-28 while the 62nd EGC is hosted July 27-August 12 by the Italian Go Association.

Here’s a message from Francesco Potortì, the main organizer of the 2018 EGC:

“The Italian Go Association and its community welcome you to the 62nd annual European Go Congress in the historic city of Pisa! From July 27th until August 12th over 1100 players from 45 countries will be our guests, breaking all records for EGC attendance up to this point. Here is what you can expect from our congress:

The European Go Championship is of course our main event where the very best of Europe will be competing for fame and fortune. Alongside however, everyone can take part in the Open European Championship (ten rounds MacMahon over the course of ten days), as well as lots and lots of side tournaments and lectures by accomplished teachers. Aside from the professional players attending as official EGC teachers though, a large amount of high-ranking professionals will also visit as attendees. This continues the trend from last year’s EGC in Oberhof, Germany, when Zhang Tao 6p gave our strongest players a run for their money and won the Open Championship. We look forward to a congress with top quality gameplay in a relaxed and friendly environment.

Outside of playing game itself, we offer afternoon and full-day excursions (on Wednesdays) to the many neighbouring cities in the Tuscany province (e.g. Florence, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Volterra). Of course if you don’t mind spending time on a longer trip, you can catch a flight to any of the nearby cultural hotspots of central Europe. Or if you just want to relax after a hard-fought game, the Mediterranean sea and Pisa’s beaches are within arm’s reach.

The prize pool for winners in all the EGC tournaments combined (incl. vouchers and non-cash prizes) exceeds 35.000 EUR (~40.500 USD). This is made possible by proud sponsorship from the European Go Federation and other generous sponsors. See you in Pisa!”

In the second round, Stephanie lost to Yu Zhiying from China, the world’s number 1 woman right now. Feng Yun lost to Yun (Korea), Sarah Yu lost to Ueno (Japan, current Female Kisei in Japan), Rita Pocsai lost to Zhang Xuan (China), Guo Juan lost to Oh (Korea) and Manja Marz lost to Lu (China).

London is getting a new go tournament. Sort of. The Not the London Tournamentwill run May 26th - 28th. Sponsored by London Go Club and the BGA, and made possible by the T Mark Hall Foundation, the Not the London Tournament is meant to both compliment the year-end London Open, as well as refocus London go to the new London Go Centre. The Go Centre plans on running the NTLO tourney the weekend of the second May public holiday and the London Open at its normal time, between Christmas and New Year.

The NTLO tourney will also run in parallel with the final stages of identifying the challenger for the British Championship.

Gerry Gavigan, West London Go Club secretary and chair of the London Go Centre, says a yet-as-confirmed go professional will be in attendance: Catalin Taranu is a possibility, though both Nihon Ki-in and the KBA have also expressed some interest in sending a pro to the tournament. Details will be updated on the site when finalized.

The McMahon system will be used to pair players. All other details, to include local travel, & hospitality, fees, and sight-seeing can be found here.

- Charles “Doc” Sade; graphic from I’m Not from London, which has nothing to do with the go tournament.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2018 Worldwide Iwamoto Awards. Organized by the European Go Cultural Centre (EGCC), the Iwamoto Awards is an international contest that rewards promising go projects. Anybody who is actively promoting and spreading go can enter the competition (read the rules here) and submit their project. The top three contenders will win prizes of €1000, €500 and €500. Deadline for submission is May 31.photo: The 2015 winner, a touchscreen go table designed by Daniel Bösze.

Traditionally Orsay is the first (in all senses of the word) tournament of the new year in France. It allows players to meet up again and to break their New Year’s resolutions – I’m going to make 5 dan by Wednesday. As usual it took place in Bouvêche, a unique building in the grounds of the Orsay castle. 59 players took part, 18 of whom were dan level, most where from locals Île de France, but others came from Brittany, Rhone Alpes, Alsace, and elsewhere. As befitting France, the food available was also an important element, and special mention must also be made for Anne-Claire who prepared around 15 Galette des Rois (a traditional cake) for the players to enjoy. Inseong Hwang (8-dan) was on hand to give commentaries to the tournament participants.

At the top of the table, the big winner with five victories, there was Gao Jiaxin (7-dan), who had helped many of the young players at the local Orsay club progress. In second place with 4 victories was Benjamin Blanchard (4-dan). After this several players trailed in with 3 victories apiece.

Other notable performances: Guillaume Ougier (1-kyu) with 4 victories and a loss to his sister (we expect a good atmosphere at their house) ; Li Liyun (13-kyu) 5 victories ; Robin Rouillon (17-kyu) 4 victories. Remember their names for the future.

Roger Huyshe, President of the British Go Association, died unexpectedly on November 13. “Apparently he was out on a bike ride in Derbyshire when he collapsed,” reports Toby Manning. “We do not think it was a traffic accident – and although the air ambulance was called, they could not save him.” Information about funeral arrangements will be posted on the BGA website when available.

Perhaps the only go tournament in the world offering free beer, the 20th “Go to Innovation” tournament will be held November 17-19 in Berlin, Germany. The 8-round tournament starts Friday with four rounds on Saturday and the final two on Sunday. The free draft beer is not available until noon on Saturday. The top 10 winners will split a prize pool of 4,650€. In addition to the main prizes for the players, there’s a 500€ Omikron Data Quality GmbH prize for the best player, 250€ for the runner-up and 125€ for 3rd-best plus a Jackpot of 500€ for 8 wins. Click here for registration details. Good accommodations near the venue at reasonable prices can be found here or here.

Seong-Jin Kim 8d won the EGCC 25th Anniversary Tournament, held October 21-22 at the European Go Cultural Centre (EGCC) in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. The tournament was the centerpiece of the Center’s 25th anniversary celebrations, which included a series of events held October 20-22, from a European Go Teachers’ Day to simuls and an evening reception.

The festivities began on Friday morning, October 20, with a full day of seminars, discussion, presentations and brainstorming by eighteen go teachers from seven different countries. Rob van Zeijst and Kalli Balduin organized the session, which featured topics like the professionalization of Western go education, the mindset of the teacher and his students, the do’s and don’ts of go teaching, obstacles for go teachers and how to overcome them, and the everlasting question “how to best promote our sport?”

A reception Friday night was highlighted by distinguished guests, including Hiroshi Yamashiro, vice-president of the Nihon Ki-in, Setsuko Kawahara, minister of the Embassy of Japan in the Netherlands, Maaike van Veeningen, alderman of the city of Amstelveen, Kenji Saito, chairman of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce (JCC) in the Netherlands, Martin Stiassny, president of the European Go Federation and Han Ellenbroek, president of the Dutch Go Association.

The EGCC Anniversary Go Tournament ran Saturday and Sunday, October 21-22, and was preceded by the work of three fanatics who cleaned all the EGCC’s go equipment, a long overdue task. Michał Łukasiewicz, Justyna Klęczar and Kim Ouweleen took several days to clean the Center’s 54 kaya and katsura go boards, as well as thousands of slate and shell go stones (left) and their bowls. On Saturday evening, after an Indonesian style dinner, participants had their choice of several fun side events, including simuls with Artem Kachanovskyi 1p, Cătălin Țăranu 5p, Seong-jin Kim 8d (top right) and Stanisław Frejlak 6d.- adapted from a report by Kim Ouweleen. Click here for complete tournament results.photos by Judith van Dam (EuroGoTV); report edited by Chris Garlock